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Don’t Worry Be Happy

This article is about the song. For the album, see Don’t worry be Happy.

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy”

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” is a song by musician Bobby McFerrin. Released in September 1988, it became the first a cappella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a position it held for two weeks. On the UK Singles Chart, the song reached number 2 during its fifth week on the chart. At the 1989 Grammy Awards, “Don’t Worry Be Happy” won the awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

The song’s title is originally taken from a famous quote by Meher Baba, The Indian mystic and sage Meher Baba (1894–1969) often used the expression “Don’t worry, be happy” when cabling his followers in the West.[1] However, Meher Baba communicated variations of the sentiment; fuller versions of the quote—such as, “Do your best. Then, don’t worry; be happy in My love. I will help you“[2] — also incorporate responsibility (“do your best…”) alongside the detachment (“don’t worry…”), as well as the master disciple spiritual relationship (“I will help you”). In the 1960s, the truncated version of this expression by Baba was printed up on inspiration cards and posters of the era. In 1988, McFerrin noticed a similar poster in the apartment of the jazz band Tuck & Patti in San Francisco. Inspired by the expression’s charm and simplicity, McFerrin wrote the now famous song, which was included in the soundtrack of the movie Cocktail, and became a hit single the next year. In an interview by Bruce Fessier for USA Weekend Magazine in 1988 McFerrin said, “Whenever you see a poster of Meher Baba, it usually says ‘Don’t worry, be happy,’ which is a pretty neat philosophy in four words, I think.”